DOJ recommends Google sell Chrome browser to break up monopoly

Google HQ

Three months after a U.S. district judge declared Google to be running a monopoly, the Department of Justice (DOJ) recommended the tech giant be forced to sell off its popular Chrome browser as part of an effort to resolve antitrust concerns and reshape the power of tech’s biggest companies.

In a 23-page filing Wednesday, the DOJ told District Court Judge Amit Mehta that forcing Google to separate itself from Chrome would be a necessary way to ensure Google’s monopoly over internet ads would come to an end.

The move wouldn’t just hit Chrome, however. The DOJ also suggested Google cleave its Android mobile software business in five years if the search market isn’t more competitive by that time. The DOJ also recommended Google be forced to share user and advertising data with its rivals, and remove any preferential treatment for its other businesses like YouTube in search results.

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